Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 29 June 2005
11 Mr. English asked the Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs if he is satisfied with the amount spent on the RAPID scheme to date; his views on the fact that this programme will end on completion of the national development plan in 2006; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23013/05]
View answerAs the Deputy is aware, my Department, supported by Area Development Management, ADM, Limited, co-ordinates the implementation of the RAPID programme. It is, therefore, a matter for each Department to report on progress on the implementation of RAPID and details of funding allocations to the projects that fall within the remit of their Department.
However, Departments were asked recently to track funding against specific projects submitted in RAPID plans from each area. While this exercise is still under way, I am informed by ADM that Departments have to date reported a spend in the order of €300 million in RAPID areas since the inception of the programme. It should be noted that this amount relates solely to specific projects in RAPID plans and does not include funding for RAPID areas by Departments, which are in addition to the RAPID plans.
Despite a slow start the RAPID programme is now making a valuable contribution in disadvantaged communities. However, as the Deputy will appreciate, tackling disadvantage will require long-term commitment by Government and in this regard I believe that the RAPID programme should continue beyond 2006.
The programme is progressing on a number of levels in tandem and clearly the benefits at local level are becoming evident. In the first instance, many small-scale proposals from RAPID plans are being dealt with more effectively at local level. A dedicated fund of €7.5 million has been put in place in 2005 to support small-scale capital projects, through co-funding with other Departments or local agencies as appropriate. I have announced a number of co-funded schemes this year.
Further funding has been allocated to two schemes that operated in 2004. Total funding of €4.5 million is available over two years —2005-06 — for the local authority housing estate enhancement scheme, which is co-funded with local authorities through the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government. Small-scale capital works to enhance the physical environment within local authority housing estates and flat complexes are supported under this scheme. The RAPID playgrounds scheme, which provides funding for the development or refurbishment of playgrounds has also been launched again this year, with total funding of €3 million being provided by my Department and the Department of Health and Children through the Health Service Executive.
This year I announced a new traffic measures scheme for RAPID areas with total funding of €2.025 million. This scheme is being co-funded with local authorities and will support small-scale capital works to improve road safety in RAPID areas.
Total funding of €4.6 million is being made available by my Department and the Department of Health and Children through the Health Service Executive on a 50:50 basis to support a range of health and community projects in RAPID areas.
My colleague, the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, recently invited applications for funding under the community based CCTV scheme. My Department will provide funding in addition to resources allocated by the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform to successful applications from RAPID areas that are endorsed by the area implementation teams. A number of other co-funded measures are under consideration and I expect to make further announcements on this matter.
As regards the larger projects from RAPID plans that have been submitted to Departments, these will continue to be considered for funding within existing funding streams in each Department. However, I expect that Departments will deal with a smaller number of projects and will therefore be in a better position to prioritise projects and set out timescales for further actions.
Work on improving integration and co-ordination of service delivery at local level will also continue as this is a key component of the RAPID programme.
Special provision was made by the Government for RAPID areas under the dormant accounts plan. RAPID areas have benefited from 57.5% of the €56.2 million in funding allocated to date.
Discussions are ongoing with Departments regarding prioritisation of other non-capital actions included in the AIT plans.
As the Deputy is aware, the RAPID programme is running in conjunction with the National Development Plan 2000-2006. While no formal decisions have been taken on the lifetime of the RAPID programme, the indications are that it will continue post-2006.
I thank the Minister for his reply. I do not doubt his commitment to the RAPID programme nor the essential need for it. We estimate that €300 million has been spent under it but we were informed by the Taoiseach that €2 billion would be spent under it.
Members were not so informed.
We were. That is written down. It is a commitment in the programme for Government.
When was that?
A number of years ago, prior to 2002. I can provide proof of that for the Minister if he so wishes. However, that is another broken promise. An estimated €300 million has been spent under the programme. All Departments have been asked to submit reports on funding under it and so on. Departments must not have spent much under this programme because they are not shouting about it. The Minister's colleagues in Government are not shy when it comes to making announcements on the spending of money. Why is there not a separate subhead for this programme in each Department's Estimate? In that way we would know exactly what is spent on the RAPID programme. The people do not know the exact amount being spent on it, and they need to know that.
People were led up the garden path in terms of the RAPID programme. People in my community became involved in this issue, attended many meetings and met elected representatives to put forward new ideas for projects under the RAPID programme. They have plenty of ideas but funding under the programme is not coming through quickly enough. The Minister's Department was allocated only €7.5 million for the programme this year and €4.5 million last year, and his Department is central to this programme. I hope we will hear major announcements in regard to the programme next year and the year after.
The Minister has twice publicly said, for which I commend him, that the RAPID programme is essential and should continue. Is there something about it we do not know? Is there a doubt about the future of the programme when the NDP comes to an end in 2006 because now and on a previous occasion the Minister said that he called for it to continue, hoped the money allocated for it would be increased and that it would continue to operate? Is there a fear that funding for the RAPID programme will be cut and will that programme lose out if there is a change to the NDP?
As I explained to Members previously, the RAPID programme was about front-loading expenditure under the national development plan, under the existing headings. For example, under a housing heading, the idea was that a RAPID area would get priority over other areas when housing allocations would be made by the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government. For example, under a health heading, there would be a scoring up in the case of a RAPID area. That is what the programme is about. If the Deputy were to check the press releases when the RAPID programme commenced, he would note that is what the programme is about.
The Taoiseach said that the programme would be given front-loading expenditure of €2 billion.
If the Deputy has the information I am seeking, will he make it available to me? The figure of €2 billion that is mentioned by everyone was also mentioned to me shortly after I become Minister. I asked people to gather all the press releases when the RAPID programme was launched, but I did not find any reference to that figure in them. If someone can give me that quote I will be eternally grateful because I cannot find it. However, I suspect that the Taoiseach said that there was a €2 billion provision for social inclusion measures in the national development plan.
There was a €15 billion provision for it, of which €2 billion was specifically for RAPID.
I cannot find any specific reference to that figure in all the documentation I was given. I asked my civil servants to check through documents for a specific commitment of €2 billion for RAPID areas. I accept it is stated somewhere and I am not trying to allege that the Deputy is making it up. If it is stated, what we are talking about is the spend, in other words, expenditure on a health centre and so on. The figure I quoted of €300 million does not represent social inclusion spend, it is matched off against what was in the RAPID plans, which would not tally with the total spend in the areas.
We are serious about addressing needs in areas of deprivation. However, we need to focus not only on the total spend in those areas, which is important, but also what the funding is spent on. I gave a classic example on an earlier occasion of the right way and the wrong way to allocate funding. A great deal of money was spent — I remember it being spent — on the building of Ballymun flats 30 or 40 years ago and they are now being knocked down. That money was badly spent in that there was no social planning and so on. What is happening in Ballymun today is different because there is a buy-in to that by the local community. There are many strands to RAPID and it is not all about money, though money is incredibly important. However, the second thing that is different this time is that we are looking for buy in from communities. That is absolutely essential so the money is well spent in terms of the social dividend it gives to the communities in RAPID areas. We could be obsessed totally in seeing it as a money gain. It is not as simple as that. It is a matter as well of spending the money in a way the communities recognise will improve their lives.
On the last point I totally agree with the Minister. We have to give value for money and there is a need for buy in from the communities and so on. We have had that in many areas.
Time is running out.
They have put forward plans and the funding is not coming. I certainly will find the statement made by the Taoiseach in this regard. I know the Minister did not say it. When it is brought up on this side of the House it is as an attempt to back the Minister's fight to get more money for RAPID. That is the only reason for raising it, not to embarrass anybody and certainly not the Minister. It is to prove the point. People were given commitments and now we want that money brought forward so we can get results. My fear is that people in disadvantaged areas are not getting all the help they need. They are getting it in certain places but more could be done. Other Departments need to buck up and do more. We all know that if much more money was being spent on the RAPID programme, we would hear about it, so €300 million is the maximum. That is a long way short of the €2 billion.
Does the Minister know whether there is to be increased funding for the RAPID areas next year, even in his own Department? Are there commitments in place? As regards the long-term future of RAPID, is there something we do not know about? That is a cause of some worry and it is something the Minister has referred to on a few occasions.
The Minister may answer, briefly.
I will try to answer the questions briefly. The first thing I find, meeting co-ordinators, chairpersons of AITs and directors of community and enterprise services in the various local authorities, is that there is an enormous buy in to RAPID now. If the Deputy had been at the recent meeting we had here in Dublin, he would——
I have been on the ground.
——have found a very positive view. Since it is coming up to the summer break, we have a DVD that was made by the RAPID groups all along the west coast. A copy is being made available to every Member of the Oireachtas so they may see what the RAPID communities are saying about themselves. I had no hand, act or part in the preparation of this DVD, and neither had my Department. This was something they decided to do for themselves. They are saying it is a positive story and I suggest we listen to them rather than what the media tell us they are telling us, which is very different.
As regards the funds in my Department, as I said I have reservations——
I understand that.
——about this and that is why CLÁR is different because it pre-dates that section. I had reservations about the measurement of front-loading because it was spending under the national development plan. I felt, very simply, that it would be good to have a small fund that could be co-funded with other Departments to deal with all the myriad of small projects that came through as RAPID plans that could not be in the national development plan because they are too small, but are still needed. I thought this was a great idea and certainly the RAPID areas think it is fantastic because it is delivering on the ground fast. It is very special to them and it is interesting that people want to get into the RAPID areas.
The Deputy asked about the long term. The reality is that we do not have a national development plan after 2006 for roads, so nobody can say with certainty what the road programme will be like after that. Similarly, I cannot say on a technical level, since there is no NDP after 2006 and because this is linked to that plan, that RAPID as it is today will be exactly the same after that date. I do not doubt in my heart and soul that RAPID will exist in some form similar to what it is at present. I would not have put so much time and effort into it if I was not 100% certain that it would be. Finally, we have extended the whole RAPID thought process way beyond where we started, for example with dormant accounts. The figure I mentioned, 57%, was not in anything at the beginning. It was not part of the programme. The equal measure of €7 million was ringfenced. It is fair to say that Departments and Government agencies are now beginning to realise that RAPID is there and will continue to be for the long term and that it needs to be given priority across a whole range of issues, even those which were not part of the original idea.
